Although dehydration is commonly viewed as a condition affecting athletes and manual laborers, dehydration is a health concern for all individuals. Dehydration is especially a concern in places where individuals are susceptible to developing a fluid imbalance and/or thermoregulatory challenge. Examples of locations that may include susceptible individuals are senior centers, public schools, hospitals and national parks.
The hypothalamus inside the brain monitors body temperature. When the hypothalamus detects that heat has begun to accumulate within the body, certain physiological adjustments are made to maintain a healthy body temperature. The dissipation of internal body heat is accomplished in a variety of ways including radiation, convection, conduction and evaporation through sweating. Evaporation is a primary mode of heat transfer during physical exertion and can account for up to 80% of the body's heat loss. In extremely hot conditions, the human body can lose as much as two liters of sweat per hour. If the body's water supply is not replenished continuously, dehydration might occur. In some cases, this can result in dangerous and potentially life-threatening consequences.
A variety of factors affect an individual's sweat rate. These factors include the ambient temperature and humidity, the intensity and duration of the physical exertion, the type of clothing worn by the individual, the individual's fitness level, hereditary factors, and additionally the individual's state of acclimatization and current hydration status. Early warning signs that an individual is entering a state of dehydration include: irritability, vomiting, thirst, headache, dizziness, fatigue, chills and darker than normal urine. If allowed to persist, dehydration can lead to muscle cramps, excessive sweating, heat exhaustion and possibly heat stroke.
An individual's desire to consume fluids (i.e., thirst) is often not an accurate means to gauge the individual's current hydration level. The hypothalamus monitors the body's temperature and controls the physiological response to a thermoregulatory challenge. The hypothalamus is affected by sodium levels, blood osmolality and overall plasma volume. The mechanisms for controlling body temperature are hormonal, physiological, metabolic and behavioral. All of these factors are subject to individual variation. Therefore, it can be difficult to predict the exact amount of fluid an individual should consume to avoid dehydration.
Clinical methods to monitor and diagnose dehydration include tests based on plasma osmolality, urine specific gravity, urine osmolality and various isotope techniques. Field methods for diagnosing dehydration are generally less accurate than clinical methods, but nonetheless provide valuable indicators of dehydration. Field methods include monitoring acute weight loss (e.g., pre-practice vs. post-practice weight), urine color and other typical signs of dehydration (e.g., thirst, dizziness, headache, irritability, etc.).
Urine color can be used to assess an individual's hydration level because urine color may change in response to changes in the individual's overall hydration level. A euhydrated individual (i.e., an individual with normal body water content) typically produces urine which is light yellow or straw color. A dehydrated individual may produce urine that is dark yellow, orange, gold, light brown or brownish-green in color. When the body enters a state of dehydration, there is a deficit between fluid intake and fluid loss. This deficit is reflected by an increased concentration of particulates excreted in the urine. If more water is lost through sweating than is consumed through drinking, less water is available to dilute the particulates in the urine, and so the urine color becomes darker.
Known color scales for analyzing urine color are printed on a paper chart. An individual must collect his or her urine in a clear container and then a medical professional will hold the paper chart next to the urine sample to make the color comparison. Individuals often object to the collection and handling of urine that is required to obtain an accurate measurement. This process is also time consuming in that the urine must first be collected in the clear container and subsequently compared to the paper chart. The process may be difficult for certain individuals (e.g., elderly individuals or younger children). Because known color scales require the collection of urine, these color scales are not helpful to an individual who excretes his or her urine into a urinal or toilet.
Therefore, there is a need for a quicker and less burdensome manner of analyzing urine color. To this end, the present inventor developed a color chart that could be adhered directly to a back surface of a urinal, for instance, which received U.S. Pat. No. 9,068,968. While this color chart is very useful, the present inventor has developed another manner of analyzing urine color that may provide some beneficial improvements, as disclosed herein.
As a final background point, some toilet receptacles may include a smell masking agent. For example, urinals are often provided with urinal screens that hold a urinal deodorizer cake (also known as a urinal deodorizer block, urinal cake, urinal mint, urinal puck, etc.). The urinal screens allows the urinal deodorizer cake to communicate with the environment so that the urinal deodorizer cake may provide a masking odor or reducing odor. The urinal screen with the urinal deodorizer cake is typically placed above the urinal drain. The urinal screen includes openings at the top of the urinal deodorizer cake holding receptacle so that water and/or urine may flow over the urinal deodorizer cake. The urinal deodorizer cake may include a disinfectant so that when the flushing water and/or urine flows over the urinal deodorizer cake, the disinfectant is transferred to the urinal during the flush to disinfect an area of the urinal. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,103,367 discloses a urinal screen configured to hold a deodorizing and/or disinfecting chemical block (i.e., a urinal cake). However, conventional urinal screens, such as the screen disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,103,367, do not provide any benefit of enabling a user to readily analyze urine color and hydration level.